Improvement in propelling apparatus for cars



95@ @wplmg @Yppawm 5o@ @am PATENTBD DEO 27 1870 UNITED STATES PATENT @BEIGE JoEN nov, or NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA,

IMPROVEMENT |N P RoPELLlNe APlARATUs Fon CARS.'

Specilication forming part of Letters/Patent-No. 110, 501, dated December 27, 41.870.

` To all whom tmay concern:

f clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable othersA skilled in the art to make and use the same,ret`erencebeing had to the accompanying drawing, forming part 4of ythis specification. l l This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for propelling street-'cars by means ota traction-rope worked along thetrack, either above orunder the ground, by means ot' stationary engines or other power; and i-t eon sists in. the application te the car, either at one or both. sides or between the sides', of traction- .wheels, preferably lthree in a row, so arranged that the rope will work under the two end' wheels, -to be prevented from rising above the ground either in front or rear of the car and over the center wheel, so as to impartvrolary motion to them, which, heilig arrested by brakes, will cause the car to `be drawn along by "the `friction ot' the rope on the wheels, all as hereinafter more i'ully described.

The drawing isa side elevation of a carwith my improved propelling apparatus attached.

In this case the propelling-rope A is repre sented as runnin g-alon g theputside of the track above the round on 'thelzfriction -rollers B,

placed at suitable intervals alongthe track.l

C represents grooved traction-Wheels Suspended atthe side of the car, one at each end,

and D is another at or about the center-'betweenthe ones C. `The rope A, passing under the wheels Gand over D, will have such friction on them as to cause them to revolve with considerable force, and by the end wheels, C, it

VWill be prevented from rising at either end of 'the car above the wheelsB'. The wheels C and D or 'their shafts are to have friction-brakes applied tov them, so that `.by arresting their-motion and causing the rope lto 'adhere to them thev car will be drawn along by the friction thereof', either fast or slow, according to the measure of the resistance applied to them .through vthe said brakes.

prevented-'from revolving,-the car will more' It' they are wholly with the sainespeed as thatot the rope. \When the brakes jare' released from; these wheels and the ordinary brakes applied to the supporting-wheels of the car the latter will stop without in'terrupting the action ofthe rope. I propose to arrange these wheels and the prog polling-rope outside of the caf' and the track 'so that theroa'd may also be used for cars drawn by ,animals at the same time; but I may llocate them atthe center or between the rails,

as I prefer. The same result may-be attained by theusejo'f one wheel on the car for the rope,

the latter being wound once'around the wheel from the-bottom over the top and back again; but- I prefer-to use three wheels, as here shown.

I propose to arrange the center wheel so that it can' be adjusted up and down to '.t'aeilitatel the application ofthe rope to the top ot it; and

`. in order to overcome the yinertia ofthe car at ,starting and reduce thev speed `while increasing the power around curves, this vwheel will act as-a band# wheel, driving the necessary' gearing in -connection with the' supportingwheels of theear.

Having thus described my invention, I claim t as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent-T- 'Thegrooved and suspended friction-wheels C GD applied to street-camas and for the JoHN RQY.

` Witnesses:A

JAMES DARE, E. B. BIsHoP. 

